Cambodia ship registry eyes top 20 position [SINGAPORE] The Cambodia Ship Registry expects to break into the ranking of the world's top 20 registries in three to five years.
Damen's S'pore yard wins its first order from HK ferry firm
China container maker wins US$30m order
Port shots
Air and Land Transport
Strong growth set to boost Qantas profit to record high [SYDNEY] Australia's flagship carrier Qantas Airways Ltd is expected to reveal a record annual profit tomorrow, thanks to growth on its key routes and effective fuel hedging.
New Indon carrier feels the heat from rivals
United, pilots union resume talks after 2-day break
China Southern expands cargo ops
Air India to lease five A310s
China moves to develop air feeder routes
Features
Making money from scrap [ROTTERDAM] ROTTERDAM is the world's largest port when it comes to scrap. Each year, four million tonnes of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals are transhipped here. At the beginning of the year, these activities were consolidated at a single location.
Cambodia ship registry eyes top 20 position [SINGAPORE] The Cambodia Ship Registry expects to break into the ranking of the world's top 20 registries in three to five years.
Damen's S'pore yard wins its first order from HK ferry firm
China container maker wins US$30m order
Port shots
Air and Land Transport
Strong growth set to boost Qantas profit to record high [SYDNEY] Australia's flagship carrier Qantas Airways Ltd is expected to reveal a record annual profit tomorrow, thanks to growth on its key routes and effective fuel hedging.
New Indon carrier feels the heat from rivals
United, pilots union resume talks after 2-day break
China Southern expands cargo ops
Air India to lease five A310s
China moves to develop air feeder routes
Features
Making money from scrap [ROTTERDAM] ROTTERDAM is the world's largest port when it comes to scrap. Each year, four million tonnes of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals are transhipped here. At the beginning of the year, these activities were consolidated at a single location.
Cambodia ship registry eyes top 20 position [SINGAPORE] The Cambodia Ship Registry expects to break into the ranking of the world's top 20 registries in three to five years.
Damen's S'pore yard wins its first order from HK ferry firm
China container maker wins US$30m order
Port shots
Air and Land Transport
Strong growth set to boost Qantas profit to record high [SYDNEY] Australia's flagship carrier Qantas Airways Ltd is expected to reveal a record annual profit tomorrow, thanks to growth on its key routes and effective fuel hedging.
New Indon carrier feels the heat from rivals
United, pilots union resume talks after 2-day break
China Southern expands cargo ops
Air India to lease five A310s
China moves to develop air feeder routes
Features
Making money from scrap [ROTTERDAM] ROTTERDAM is the world's largest port when it comes to scrap. Each year, four million tonnes of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals are transhipped here. At the beginning of the year, these activities were consolidated at a single location.
All smiles at Mersey Docks All smiles at Mersey Docks: chief executive and managing director Peter Jones (right) and finance director Alistair Findlay revealed rising profits and a mood for acquisition in Liverpool yesterday.
US may open oil taps to deflect Opec squeeze THE United States and Opec are on collision course again over the price of oil.
Schoeller ups China orders HEINRICH Schoeller, head of Cyprus-based shipping group Schoeller Holdings, has doubled his newbuilding commitments in China in a deal worth close to $100m.
ITF's Sea Trader blockade ruled legal by court AN International Transport Workers' Federation blockade of a Malta-flag ro-ro chartered by Color Line was ruled legal yesterday by a Norwegian court.
A containership reaches the Pacific Ocean A containership reaches the Pacific Ocean after passing under the Las Americas Bridge over the Panama Canal yesterday, the 86th anniversary of the first passage through the waterway.
Mersey Docks talks on two acquisitions MERSEY Docks and Harbour Co is in discussions over two port-related acquisitions, one in the UK and one in continental Europe, chief executive Peter Jones confirmed yesterday.
VLCC party to go on for three years - Mosvold OSLO-listed Mosvold Shipping expects the VLCC party to continue for at least three years, on the back of rosy forecasts on the supply and the demand sides.
Aker McNulty clinches Bleo Holm FPSO deal UK FABRICATION facility Aker McNulty has clinched the contract to upgrade Bluewater's Bleo Holm floating production, storage and offloading vessel, beating off competition from five other European yards.
New York could become the undisputed East Coast container-port load center of the 21st century and Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., is going to superintend the effort. He is supporting construction of two rail tunnels under New York harbor to link Northern New Jersey rail lines with a revitalized Brooklyn waterfront and Staten Island. The more than $4 billion cost of two twin-track rail tunnels could be self-financing, according to a recent consultant's report, and would remove more than a million trucks from chronically clogged port-area highways.
Tax bills affecting airlines, railroads, trucking and water carriers are likely to surface soon after a new president and the 107th Congress sit down in January to conduct business, American Trucking Associations President Walter McCormick predicts. Tax-code changes, he said, most often are accomplished as part of budget resolutions. ATA hopes to be at the front of the line to have the 12 percent excise tax on new trucks and truck equipment eliminated.
As the e-logistics marketplace matures, will the future role of the traditional third-party provider become clearer? The answer is maybe. As always, the shipper is the wild card. "There is no question that the Internet will provide a huge market segment for us," said John Williford Jr., president and CEO of Redwood City, Calif.-based Menlo Logistics. As to which dot-com prospects will provide the business, "it's very difficult to predict," he added. Menlo is still evaluating the skills it will need to compete in the e-business marketplace. Meanwhile, the 3PL is doing a lot of consulting work for dot-com companies that need on-the-ground logistics expertise.
New European Union regulations designed to improve ship inspections and make classification societies more accountable for their work have drawn praise from European shippers. But a proposal to make cargo owners more liable for environmental damage their cargoes cause when released by accident "is contrary to natural justice," the European Shippers Council said. The European Union's new, get-tough policy on the maritime industry is an outgrowth of the Erika oil tanker disaster, which created serious environmental damage along the Atlantic coast of France when the ship broke in half last December. According to shippers, the ensuing political debate on maritime safety has been warranted, but the European Union has gone too far in extending liability to shippers.
Atlanta-based Transportal Network is labeled the "anti-auction" site by its executive vice president and chief development officer, Lana R. Batts. The longtime trucking advocate is on board Transportal to enable truckload carriers to cut costs by improving efficiency and reducing empty miles. The antithesis of an e-Bay-like auction site that just hammers down freight rates, Transportal aims to use information flows to enable carriers to better plan their routing networks. Its cooperative purchasing network already is on line, some 26 carriers are already signed up and its sophisticated routing system is soon to be up and running. Transportal promises not to interfere with shippers' negotiations with their core carriers, only to enable those carriers to better plan their networks and load-planning systems.
CSX and Norfolk Southern have submitted their fall peak plans, and both carriers are confident they have never been in better shape to handle the traditional increase in business volumes. Highlights include NS's plans to add three to four trains a day to its intermodal service, and CSX's detailed hurricane contingency plans. Shippers are for the most part confident that the railroads will be ready. The possibility of a record corn harvest has grain interests concerned, however.
Shippers, for the most part, are willing to try just about anything to get better service at a better price. The recent flood of Internet-based transportation procurement sites has made testing the waters with a new carrier infinitely easier, but the system isn't perfect. While shippers have been able to find carriers willing to do the same work at a much lower price, these new ventures often can't replace the personal relationship that is built over time between a carrier and a shipper. But that doesn't mean shippers haven't found a place for this new purchasing vehicle. The dot-coms, many of which are changing their business plans as they go, are bombarding shippers with invitations to abandon the way they purchase transportation and give them a shot. And they are, by the thousands.
In days long ago, not much thought was given to returning merchandise. No longer. Companies now have an abundance of choices when it comes to returns software and services in the online world. They can choose both. They can choose either. But mostly they can choose them to improve their business-to-consumer Internet experience. All of the companies profiled focus on retail returns from consumers. And the technology? From and for the Internet, of course.
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